Unwell Season 3/Episode 7- A Space Within the Walls

by Bilal Dardai

Land lines

Sometimes you get what you want

Who can you trust?

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This episode features: Marsha Harman as Dot, Kathleen Hoil as Abbie, Clarisa Cherie Rios as Lily, Joshua K. Harris as Rudy, Pat King as Chester, Michael Turrentine as Wes, Mark Soloff as Silas, Ele Matelan as [REDACTED], Sebastian H. Orr as [REDACTED].

Written by Bilal Dardai, sound design by Jeffrey Nils Gardner, directed by Jeffrey Nils Gardner, theme music composed by Stephen Poon, recording engineer Mel Ruder, associate producer TH Ponders, Theme performed by Stephen Poon, Lauren Kelly, Gunnar Jebsen, Travis Elfers, Mel Ruder, and Betsey Palmer, Unwell lead sound designer Eli Hamada McIlveen, Executive Producers Eleanor Hyde and Jeffrey Nils Gardner, by HartLife NFP.

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INTERIOR, FENWOOD HOUSE. THE LAND

LINE RINGS. LILY PICKS UP. RUDY IS

ON THE OTHER END OF THE LINE.

LILY: Hello? Fenwood House.

RUDY: Lily?

LILY: Hi, Rudy.

RUDY: Hey, it’s Rudy. Is it just you there, or...?

LILY: Mom and Abbie are around. What’s up, you

need one of them?

RUDY: Actually, it’s perfect that you’re all

there. I have a lead on Wes.

LILY: (CALLING INTO THE HOUSE) Mom! Abbie! Rudy’s

on the phone! He says he has a lead on Wes!

ABBIE: (ENTERING) Lead? What does he mean by lead?

RUDY: Is that Abbie? Say hi for me.

LILY: Rudy says hi.

ABBIE: Are we really going to...

DOT: (ENTERING) Did I hear you right? Something

about Wes?

RUDY: Say hi to Dot too.

LILY: Rudy says hi.

DOT: Tell him hi back.

LILY: My mom says hi back.

ABBIE: (SIGHING) Right, right, listen to all this

famous Midwestern courtesy RUDY THIS IS

ABBIE. YOU SAID SOMETHING ABOUT A LEAD ON

WES. GET TO THE POINT SO LILY CAN TELL US

ABOUT IT.

RUDY: It’s good to hear their voice. I mean that.

Tell them after we’re done. Listen. You know

that I’m in with the Delphics now.

LILY: I do. I don’t know how I feel about that.

RUDY: I understand, and we should table that

conversation for another time, but the good

news is that I overheard a few of them

talking about some kind of odd occurrence,

that’s the word they used, an occurrence

over by the abandoned tool and die shop.

LILY: Abandoned what? Tool and die shop?

ABBIE: I’ve been out that way. It’s about as far

from here as you can get on the other side

of town. There’s still a sign on the outside

that says “134 Days With No Accidents” and I

want to find somebody who can tell me what

happened on day 135. What about it?

LILY: Rudy says he heard about an occurrence out

there.

RUDY: They said there was an odd sort of wind in

the air, and then they heard somebody

crying. When they went to check on it...?

LILY: They saw Wes?

RUDY: They saw somebody who, when they described

him to me, sounded a lot like Wes. He saw

them, took off running, disappeared.

DOT: What was he wearing?

LILY: What was he wearing?

RUDY: T-shirt and jeans.

LILY: T-shirt and jeans.

DOT: That’s it? It’s 10 degrees out there!

LILY: Mom. (BEAT) Did you forget that...

DOT: I did not forget that he’s a ghost, honey,

but that doesn’t mean I like the idea of him

running around in this weather dressed

like--

LILY: --but Mom, that means it has to be him!

Right?

RUDY: Exactly! I mean, it’s him or somebody else

who needs help. Either way, I thought you

might want to check it out.

LILY: We do. Thank you. Are you able to meet us

there?

RUDY: Ah...I can’t. I’m sorry. I’m a little. Well.

LILY: I see. This is because of your...

RUDY: Kinda. There are expectations, you know?

LILY: Yeah. You and I are definitely going to talk about this later.

RUDY: Sure, Lily.

LILY: And Rudy. We could have done this on

speaker. Next time call my cell instead of

the land line.

RUDY: Sorry, no! When there’s a land line, you

call the land line. One of those things you

gotta do before you can’t anymore, right?

LILY: (AMUSED) Whatever. Thanks for the tip.

RUDY: Go get him. And when you find him? Tell him

I said hello, okay?

LILY: Okay, Rudy. I will.

LAND LINE BEING HUNG UP. A SHUFFLE

AS BAGS ARE GATHERED AND SHOES PUT

ON.

LILY: Rudy said it was nice to hear your voice.

ABBIE: Oh. Well. It was nice to almost hear his

small, distant buzzing.

LILY: Ready Mom?

DOT: You’re not even going to try and stop me?

LILY: What would even be the point.

DOT: Good. You’re learning. (BEAT) Not even a

little bit? I’m your mother. What are you

doing letting your ailing mother go out

adventuring in ten-degree weather?

LILY: Shut up and get your boots on.

ABBIE: Do you need me to bring the...(SIGHS)

...ghost gear?

LILY: It’s already in the car. There might even be

room in there for your attitude.

ABBIE: Don’t worry. It folds up. (BEAT) I don’t get

it, though.

LILY: You don’t get what.

ABBIE: Why Wes would be out by the tool and die

shop.

LILY: Maybe it means something to him. Or meant

something. When he was alive. We’ll ask him

when we find him.

DOT: Less talk, more rescue. Come on.

THE FRONT DOOR OPENS AND THREE

SETS OF BOOTS WALK OUTSIDE. A FEW

DISTANT, INDECIPHERABLE BITS OF

CONVERSATION BETWEEN LILY, DOT,

AND ABBIE. THE DISTANT SOUND OF A

CAR STARTING AND DRIVING OFF. THE

HOUSE MAKES A FEW NOISES; A CREAK

OF THE WALLS, A HISS OF THE

RADIATOR, BUT OTHERWISE THE

BUILDING IS EMPTY. A FEW MORE

MOMENTS WITH JUST THE HOUSE. THE

LAND LINE RINGS AGAIN. AFTER THREE

RINGS, AN ANSWERING MACHINE PICKS

UP WITH WES’S VOICE, READING FROM

A SCRIPT.

WES: Thank you for calling Fenwood House, a

historic establishment offering comfortable

accommodations to wanderers, stargazers, and

tourists of all kinds. Dorothy Harper,

proprietor. We’re sorry to have missed your

call, but if you leave your name, number,

and the dates you’re interested in booking a

room, we will return your call as soon as

possible. We hope to see you in Mt. Absalom

very soon!

A BEEP.

RUDY: (INTO THE ANSWERING MACHINE, AFTER A MOMENT)

Hi Wes. I wasn’t...I wasn’t expecting you.

HE HANGS UP. SEVERAL MORE MOMENTS

ALONE WITH THE HOUSE, AND THEN THE

FRONT DOOR OPENS WITH GENTLE

BELLS. TWO PAIRS OF FOOTSTEPS

ENTER, CAUSING FLOORBOARDS TO

CREAK.

RUDY: Hello? Dot? (BEAT) Yup. Figured she’d go.

CHESTER: How much time do we have?

RUDY: Here to there is 40 minutes, give or take.

And they’ll stay a couple hours before they

give up. They’re good people.

CHESTER: Plenty, then. Nice work.

RUDY: Sure. Thanks.

CHESTER: Rudy, I know this is hard for you. You want

to think of this as a betrayal. It’s not a

betrayal. It’s not even breaking and

entering. You live here, and I’m your guest.

RUDY: I guarantee you this was not what Dot meant

when she said it was okay for me to bring

home a guest once in awhile.

CHESTER: The Revelator has been inside this house

twice now.

RUDY: That I know of.

CHESTER: That you know of. The Delphic Order needs to

know why, and we need to know how.

RUDY: I told you. Lily invited him in.

CHESTER: He’s not a vampire.

RUDY: Like vampires are the only ones that has to

be true for. In fact , having never

encountered a vampire--that I know of--I

can’t outright say it’s true for them.

CHESTER: He’s been barred from entering the town for

over a century by a mystical decree that

nobody in the Order fully understands, not

even me or Hazel. You think that falls apart

because Lily Harper says “hi, come on in.”

RUDY: Why not? That’s how it worked at the start,

isn’t it? He invited you in. It’s poetic ,

therefore...

CHESTER: I’m not going to stand here arguing with you

about this.

RUDY: Don’t be sour.

CHESTER: I mean that I’m not going to stand here

arguing with you. If you want to keep

arguing, fine, but we’re on the clock. I

need to examine Fenwood without interruption

or things being hidden from me.

RUDY: The Revelator is unique, right? Compared to

the rest of the town’s ghosts?

CHESTER: Sure.

RUDY: So then it’s foolish, and it’s probably

dangerous, to act like you know all of his

rules. Until you eliminate the possibility--

CHESTER: --okay, okay, I take your point. I’ll keep

an open mind.

RUDY: Thank you. So. Where should we start? Do we

split up or stick together?

CHESTER: Let’s stick together. We go room by room and

be thorough about it. Look for anything that

seems unusual or out of place.

RUDY: Bottom up or top down?

CHESTER: You said there’s some kind of vanishing door

in the basement?

RUDY: Yup.

CHESTER: Top down.

CHESTER AND RUDY WALK UPSTAIRS.

THE FLOORBOARDS CREAK, THE

RADIATORS HISS. A WHISTLING WIND

PASSES BY THE WINDOWS.

THE SECOND FLOOR OF THE HOUSE.

MORE CREAKING AND WHISTLING.

CHESTER: Is it always this noisy?

RUDY: I suppose so. I’ve never been here when it’s

empty. The stairs to the next floor are that

way.

A STRONG GUST OF WIND BANSHEES ITS

WAY AROUND THE HOUSE, RATTLING

EVERY EXTERIOR SET OF WOODEN

WINDOW SHUTTERS ACROSS THAT SIDE

OF THE HOUSE. ONE WINDOW’S SET HAS

PULLED LOOSE, AND THE WIND CAUSES

IT TO SLAM REPEATEDLY,

RHYTHMICALLY AGAINST THE HOUSE.

CHESTER YELPS AS HE HEARS IT.

CHESTER: OHmygod! OHmygod. What the hell.

RUDY: Shutters must have come loose. (LISTENS TO

THEM SLAMMING AGAINST THE HOUSE FOR A

MOMENT) Yeah, that’s gonna drive me nuts.

This way.

THEY WALK DOWN THE HALL TO DOT’S

BEDROOM, THE SOUND OF THE SHUTTER

GETTING LOUDER AS THEY GET CLOSER.

RUDY OPENS THE WINDOW AND THE

WINTER WINDS BURST IN, BRIEFLY, AS

HE RE-SECURES THE SHUTTERS AND

CLOSES THE WINDOW AGAIN. THE

SHUTTERS STILL RATTLE, BUT NO

LONGER SLAM. THE RADIATOR IN THE

ROOM HISSES AND WHINES. THE

FISHTANK BUBBLES.

RUDY: There. That’s enough outta you.

CHESTER: Is this Dot’s room?

RUDY: Sure is. And that’s new.

CHESTER: (ON ALERT) What. What’s new?

RUDY: (TALKING TO THE GOLDFISH) And what might

your name be? (SHUFFLING THROUGH SMALL

POST-IT NOTES) “Feeding schedule for

Guinevere.” Guinevere, is it? Fancy name for

a fancy fish.

CHESTER: The goldfish. You’re talking about the

goldfish.

RUDY: Yes.

CHESTER: (RELIEVED) I doubt that has anything to do

with--

RUDY: (LOOKING THROUGH A STACK OF BOOKS FROM A

NEARBY NIGHTSTAND) --crosswords, sudoku.

Shades of Gray Matter by Dr. Hans Kitzinger.

(BEAT) Oh. Okay. I get it, Dot.

CHESTER: Get what?

RUDY: Feeding the fish. It’s a routine. Like a

memory exercise.

CHESTER: ...that’s an excellent observation, Rudy.

DRAWERS OPENING, CLOTHES BEING

RIFLED THROUGH.

RUDY: What are you doing?

CHESTER: You’re right, she has to do these activities

now to compensate for the memory loss.

RUDY: Stop that.

CHESTER: So maybe she keeps, like a journal.

RUDY: (FORCEFULLY) I said stop that , Chester. You

said you wanted to examine the house , not

ransack Dot’s sock drawers.

CHESTER: If she keeps a journal--

RUDY: --which you don’t even know if that’s true--

CHESTER: --if she keeps a journal , then it might give

us the clues we need to not have to go over

every inch of the house, Rudy.

RUDY: And if we don’t find one? Or if we do find

one, but it doesn’t tell you what you want?

CHESTER: Then we try something else.

RUDY: Like taking a drill to the walls?

CHESTER: This is Delphic business. We are in this

house handling a Delphic matter and I

outrank you by generations . I’m not talking

about drilling holes in the wall, but if I

say we search, that we search this

nightstand , then we will--

STRUGGLING OVER A NIGHTSTAND

DRAWER.

RUDY: --stop--

CHESTER: --search--

RUDY: --Chester!--

CHESTER: --the nightstand!

A DRAWER HITS THE FLOOR. SEVERAL

ITEMS SPILL OUT OF IT, INCLUDING A

FEW DOZEN SMALL PILLS.

CHESTER: Listen! Will you listen! I know that it’s in

your nature to follow your own instincts but

we are in crisis right now and I need you to

please listen and do exactly what I say!

RUDY: (EXASPERATED) Fine! All right! You’re the

boss, Chester! You’re the boss and the

deputy boss and the assistant chief

secretary to the deputy boss! Now help me

pick up all these...Don-ep-a-zil.

THE SOUND OF A HASTY PICKUP OF THE

DRAWER, SCATTERED PILLS, AND OTHER

ODDS AND ENDS.

CHESTER: Keep reminding yourself, Rudy. Dot Harper is

not well.

RUDY: She’s fine.

CHESTER: No she is not . Right now we are picking

her brain pills up off the floor. I know

better than anyone how much courage she has

but Silas knows she’s vulnerable. If he

just keeps pushing on Fenwood, pushing on

Dot ...

RUDY: ...then he can work his way in further.

THE DRAWER IS SLID BACK INTO THE

NIGHTSTAND.

CHESTER: You understand me.

RUDY: I do. (BEAT) You’re afraid.

CHESTER: You are GOSHDARN right I’m afraid. (BEAT)

Before the Order banished him, Silas Lodge

wasn’t just...it wasn’t a few words on which

we disagreed. Silas Lodge was dragging men,

women, and children out to the Witch’s

Altar, and he would...! (BEAT) Not my

family...not anyone else. I won’t let him.

We won’t...ransack. But we need to look at

everything.

NO FURTHER CONVERSATION. DRAWERS

BEING OPENED AND FURNITURE BEING

SLID AROUND THE FLOOR. THE WIND

CONTINUES TO RATTLE THE SHUTTERS

OUTSIDE. THE RADIATOR HISSES

STEADILY. GUINEVERE DARTS BACK AND

FORTH IN THE FISHTANK.

CHESTER: Could use a little more light. Turn that

lamp on.

THE CLICK OF A LAMP’S TWIST KNOB

BEING ROTATED SEVERAL TIMES.

RUDY: Hm. Oh. Not plugged in. (BEAT) There we go.

TWIST KNOB ROTATED ONCE MORE.

TWICE.

RUDY: Huh.

CHESTER: What’s wrong?

RUDY: Still not... (ROTATES KNOB AGAIN) Might be

the bulb’s burned out. Or the socket. Dot

did say the electricals were wired a little

funny. (ROTATES KNOB AGAIN)

A DEEPER, HEAVIER METALLIC CLICK

IN THE ROOM; THE SOUND OF VAULT

BOLTS COMING UNLOCKED.

CHESTER: What was that? (BEAT) You heard that, didn’t

you?

RUDY: I did. It was...it sounded like the wall I

plugged the...hold on a second.

A WOODEN WALL BEING PUSHED IN. IT

CLICKS AND OPENS OUT INTO THE

ROOM. A HOLLOW WIND WHISTLES FROM

WITHIN.

RUDY: I don’t think this is an extra closet.

CHESTER: Oh my gosh. (BEAT) I knew it! I KNEW IT I

KNEW IT I KNEW IT I KNEW IT! (WITH WHISPERED

AWE) A secret passage.

RUDY: Let’s not make assumptions. After all, if it

doesn’t lead anywhere it’s just a secret

room. (BEAT) Definitely goes back a bit,

though. This is ingenious. You see this? The

lamp doesn’t turn on because it’s the power

source for the door, instead of the other

way around. (BEAT) Lucky break. I don’t know

that I would have thought to--

CHESTER: --we should go in. Right? This might be

exactly what we came looking for.

RUDY: Answers.

CHESTER: Answers. Exactly right.

RUDY: Well. No time like the present. Come on.

CHESTER: Do you have a flashlight?

RUDY: We have cellphones.

CHESTER: Right. Right. Cellphones.

FOOTSTEPS ON CREAKY WOODEN BOARDS.

THERE IS A DISTINCT DIFFERENCE TO

THE ACOUSTICS IN THIS PASSAGEWAY.

THE WIND STILL HOWLS AROUND THE

SIDE OF THE HOUSE AND THE RADIATOR

CAN STILL BE HEARD HISSING IN THE

DISTANCE.

RUDY: Do you know when this house was built?

CHESTER: 1899. The Lyle homestead was here, but that

burned to the ground. Fenwood was built over

the ashes.

RUDY: I’ve seen houses with passages like this

that were part of the Underground Railroad.

Mt. Absalom’s not all that far from the

Virginia border. But 1899, that’s a

bit later than slavery.

CHESTER: Is it colder in here? I think I can see my

breath. (EXHALES DEEPLY) There. Look at

that.

RUDY: (EXHALES DEEPLY) Weird. (BEAT) How many

steps have we gone?

CHESTER: A dozen or so?

RUDY: Weird. We should have hit another wall or

door by now, don’t you think? (BEAT) Let’s

head back?

CHESTER: Yes. (BEAT) Rudy. Did you close the door

behind us?

RUDY: You came in last.

CHESTER: I didn’t close it.

RUDY: Chester, what are you--

CHESTER: --I don’t see the door.

THE WIND WHISTLES ONCE OUTSIDE THE

HOUSE, AND THEN CUTS OFF SUDDENLY.

THE HISS OF THE STEAM RADIATOR

SEEMS TO SEEP INTO THE WALLS.

CHESTER: Hot. Why’s it so hot all of a sudden.

RUDY: Start walking. The door has to be back

there.

FOOTSTEPS ON CREAKY WOODEN BOARDS.

THE ACOUSTICS IN THE PASSAGE HAVE

CHANGED AGAIN, AS IF THE CEILINGS

ARE HIGH AND VAULTED. THE HISSING

SOUND OF THE STEAM HEAT IS

GRADUALLY TRANSFORMING INTO A FLOW

OF WATER.

CHESTER: I don’t understand what’s happening here.

17

RUDY: Listen.

THE PASSAGEWAY SOUNDS LIKE A

GENTLE RIVER IN AN UNDERGROUND

CAVE.

RUDY: That’s not possible.

CHESTER: He’s in here now, isn’t he.

RUDY: We’re still in the walls. Look.

CHESTER: He’s taken the house. We’re too late.

RUDY: Keep walking.

FOOTSTEPS ON CREAKY FLOORBOARDS,

AS WELL AS THE SOUND OF THE RIVER

IN THE UNDERGROUND CAVE. THE WIND

WHISTLES OUTSIDE THE HOUSE AND

THEN DARTS INTO THE PASSAGEWAY.

CHESTER VOCALIZES HIS SUDDEN

SHIVER. THE RIVER SUDDENLY STOPS

FLOWING AND CRACKLES AS IT FREEZES

INSTANTANEOUSLY. THE CRACK ECHOES

BACK AND FORTH ACROSS A VAST

CAVERN.

RUDY: The door should be...

THE SOUND OF THE PASSAGEWAY LOCKS

COMING UNDONE AGAIN, FROM MUCH

FURTHER THAN A FEW STEPS AWAY. THE

DOOR CAN BE HEARD OPENING.

CHESTER: They must have come back. (CALLING) Dot?

Lily? It’s, it’s Chester and Rudy. Listen,

we can explain.

RUDY: Quiet a second. Don’t move.

A SILENCE. RUDY AND CHESTER’S ICY

BREATHS CAN BE HEARD IN THE

PASSAGEWAY. THE HISS OF THE

RADIATOR CAN BE HEARD IN THE

DISTANCE AND THE WIND CAN BE HEARD

BLOWING THROUGH A CAVERN. FROM THE

OTHER END OF THE PASSAGEWAY, A

SINGLE CREAKY FOOTSTEP, THEN

ANOTHER, COMING CLOSER. A DEEP,

ICY EXHALE COMING WITH IT. IN

ADDITION TO THE CREAK OF THE

FLOORBOARDS THE STEPS SEEM TO BE

LANDING ON GRANITE AND CRACKING

THE ICE ON A FROZEN RIVER.

RUDY: Can you see the doorway?

CHESTER: He’s coming.

RUDY: Can you see the doorway?

CHESTER: Yes.

RUDY: How far?

CHESTER: A dozen steps or so?

RUDY: Start moving. Now. NOW!

CHESTER AND RUDY’S FOOTSTEPS AND

BREATH WALK TOWARDS THE DOOR AS

THE OTHER STEPS AND BREATHING

WALKS TOWARD THEM. ALL SOUND

BLENDS AND CONFRONTS EACH OTHER IN

THE MIDDLE, LIKE STORM FRONTS

CUTTING THROUGH ONE ANOTHER.

CHESTER AND RUDY’S FOOTSTEPS

CONTINUE. THERE IS NO LONGER ANY

UNUSUAL SOUND BEHIND THEM AS THEY

TAKE THE LAST SIX STEPS TOWARDS

THE DOOR AND WALK THROUGH. THEIR

FEET LAND ON THE FLOOR OF THE

FENWOOD HOUSE BASEMENT.

CHESTER: What? Wait. This isn’t Dot’s room.

A LOUD, SUDDEN SLAMMING SOUND

BEHIND THEM. THE DOOR VANISHES

WITH A HOLLOW IMPLOSION. CHESTER

STUMBLES AWAY WITH A YELP,

CRASHING INTO A PILE OF KNICKNACKS

AND CLOTHING MANNEQUINS.

CHESTER: Okay. Okay. Where are we. What the hell just

happened.

RUDY: Huh. We’re in the basement.

CHESTER: The basement ?

RUDY: Yup.

CHESTER: So did we just come out through the door you

told me about?

RUDY: I’m not sure. I feel like it was over there,

last time I saw it.

CHESTER: What are you saying? That there are multiple

vanishing doors down here?

RUDY: I’m not an expert on anything. I’m telling

you what I saw. That’s it. We didn’t go down

any stairs. I didn’t even feel an incline,

did you?

CHESTER: We walked a dozen steps in and a lot more

than that back, and we didn’t go through the

same door somehow, and, what exactly did we

hear in there? What was that?

RUDY: I don’t have any answers for you. (BEAT)

Maybe we just died.

CHESTER: I’m sorry?

RUDY: Not ruling anything out. If I’m being honest

with myself, it was bound to happen this way

as much as any. As many places as I’ve

walked into blind, the close scrapes over

just the past five years? I might as well

have been running around a roulette wheel,

and now here we are. Number’s up. Double

zeroes. (BEAT) I’m guessing that’s not the

same for you. Sorry about that. I mean,

sorry about that if you and I died just now.

CHESTER: I don’t think I’m dead.

RUDY: Strange thing about this town, though,

isn’t it? You wouldn’t be the first person

to die here and not quite realize it.

CHESTER: (AFTER A LONG SILENCE) Do you think it was

him? Silas?

RUDY: I don’t. That felt different than the time I

met him. Although he didn’t kill me last

time I met him, so it’s not like I know what

it feels like if he does. If we are.

CHESTER: I need you to stop saying we’re dead.

RUDY: I said if. I said maybe.

CHESTER: Stop saying that too.

RUDY: Look, if we’re not dead, then great. If we

are dead, it’s not the best, but you and I

are still conscious, talking to each other,

figuring out, like you and Hazel said, the

greater mysteries? That’s a plus. (BEAT)

It’s funny. I remember; my mother used to

talk about death like it was a door. She’d

tell me that most of the time it was shut

and locked tight, and you didn’t have to

worry about it. Every once in awhile though,

it might come ajar, and you’d have to be

careful you didn’t trip and fall into it.

(BEAT) And some days, you might think about

picking the locks yourself. Or you might

make your own copy of the key. “That’s

the most dangerous, Rudy,” she’d say. “When

you realize you’ve made a key to that door

and you have to convince yourself never to

use it.”

CHESTER: Your mother sounds like she was a poet.

RUDY: Oh. No. She wrote a few things, but those

were sketches, for herself. She tried a

little of everything for a few months.

Poetry, pottery, ukelele. Everything except

motherhood. She held onto that as long as

she could.

CHESTER: ...we’re not dead, Rudy.

RUDY: Fine.

CHESTER: I mean it.

RUDY: Okay.

CHESTER: Stop saying it.

RUDY: I’m agreeing with you!

CHESTER: Can we get out of the basement? Which way

are the stairs?

RUDY: That way.

CHESTER: Are you sure?

RUDY: No.

THEY WALK IN SILENCE ACROSS THE

BASEMENT, OCCASIONALLY PUSHING

ASIDE JUNK TO CLEAR THEIR PATH.

RUDY: Do you want to go first this time?

CHESTER: Not particularly. But okay.

THEY WALK UP THE STAIRS AND ONTO

THE FIRST FLOOR.

CHESTER: My Grampa Art warned me about this house

once.

RUDY: Is that right?

CHESTER: Sort of. I was in the car with him and we

passed by, and I said, “that house looks

haunted.” Grampa Art, he chuckled and told

me I didn’t know the half of it.

RUDY: That was it?

CHESTER: That was it.

RUDY: Some warning.

CHESTER: He was right, though. After today I feel

like I don’t even know ten percent of it.

THE FIRST FLOOR OF FENWOOD HOUSE.

THE RADIATORS HISS AND THE WIND

BLOWS PAST THE WINDOWS.

RUDY: Maybe it wasn’t Silas in there.

CHESTER: But it was somebody, wasn’t it? Something?

RUDY: Somebody. (BEAT) The One Who Blooms?

CHESTER: Nothing about that felt like a bloom.

RUDY: No. But bloom isn’t just a word for flowers,

you know.

CHESTER: I don’t think I’m ready to follow where your

brain is going right now, Rudy.

RUDY: Yeah. Not the first time I’ve heard that . Do

you still want to keep looking?

CHESTER: No. I think we’ve learned enough tonight.

RUDY: And maybe we shouldn’t push our luck.

CHESTER: Right. (BEAT) We should tell Hazel what

happened here.

RUDY: What are you going to say?

CHESTER: I don’t know yet. I’ll figure it out on the

way over. Let’s go.

RUDY: You go. I need to take care of what we did

to Dot’s room.

CHESTER: Do not go back in that passageway, Rudy.

RUDY: Roger dodger.

CHESTER EXITS THE FRONT DOOR OF

THE HOUSE. RUDY STANDS IN FENWOOD,

ALONE.

RUDY: Wes? It’s Rudy. Was that you? Can you

do...what that was? (BEAT)I know what it

probably looked like to you. Chester being

here. It’s complicated. Please trust me. I

want what’s best for Dot. Same as you. Wes,

if that was you, I’d like to talk to you

about it. What do you say?

WES SAYS NOTHING. THE HOUSE

CREAKS. RUDY SIGHS DEEPLY. HE

DIALS A NUMBER ON HIS CELLPHONE.

THE SOUND OF RINGING FROM WITHIN

THE CELLPHONE, AND THE HALF-SECOND

DELAYED RING FROM THE LAND LINE

RINGS IN THE KITCHEN NEARBY. AFTER

THREE RINGS, WE HEAR WES SPEAKING,

BOTH THROUGH THE CELLPHONE AND

ACROSS THE HOUSE.

WES: Thank you for calling Fenwood House, a

historic establishment offering comfortable

accommodations to wanderers, stargazers, and

tourists of all kinds. Dorothy Harper,

proprietor. We’re sorry to have missed your

call, but if you leave your name, number,

and the dates you’re interested in booking a

room, we will return your call as soon as

possible. We hope to see you in Mt. Absalom

very soon!

A BEEP.

RUDY: Dorothy. Lily. It’s Rudy. We should talk.

CREDITS MUSIC COMES IN


CREDITS

THE ABANDONED FAIRGROUNDS.

WES: (SINGING TO HIMSELF) Celery...fresh as a

daisy, green and amazing, celery. Sparkling

water, touch of sugar, get your greens and

tell your--

HEAVY FOOTSTEPS AND TWO CALM DOGS

HAVE WALKED UP BEHIND WES AS HE

SINGS.

SILAS: Are you all right, young man? You seem lost.

WES: Hello. I’m not...lost.

SILAS: Just a wanderer, then.

WES: Sure. I guess.

SILAS: One doesn’t tend to see people on these

grounds mid-winter. Truth be told, outside

the Celery Festival, these grounds don’t see

much use at all. I take it you’ve been to

our Celery Festival?

WES: I...have. Do I know...?

SILAS: A monument to a simpler time. A time when

celery was but a gift of the earth. Before

they corrupted it, packaged it in glass,

made industry of what once was blessing. But

that’s people for you. Nothing you can give

them already perfect as-is that they won’t

destroy by making it better.

WES: I feel like I know you.

SILAS: Better than you realize. We’re very alike,

young man.

WES: What do you mean?

THE DOGS GROWL.

SILAS: Moloch. Abaddon. No need for that. It’s a

young man’s right to ask questions.

WES: Then--

SILAS: --and it’s an older man’s right to withhold

answers. (BEAT) You have the look of someone

on the edge of leaving town. Not the first

time I’ve seen that.

WES: I don’t even know if that’s possible.

SILAS: Possible or no. You ought to consider it.

You no longer have a place here, now that

they know what you are. Even now they’re

trying to forget that you were here.

WES: That’s not true.

SILAS: They told Stella that you had gone to St.

Louis. Perhaps they feared what the truth of

you would do to her.

WES: Stop it! They wouldn’t--why are you telling

me this?

THE DOGS GROWL.

SILAS: Settle down now. Some answers are necessary

to hear. (BEAT) You were still just a pup

when life left you. You never grew to feel

the ache in your bones when the rains came

in. So perhaps you can’t recognize the storm

that’s approaching right now. It marches

towards Mt. Absalom with the fury of

judgment, and when it arrives neither living

or dead will be spared of it.

DISTANTLY, ABOVE, A SMALL FLOCK OF

CROWS CAN BE HEARD.

SILAS: About a half mile that way you’ll find a

road that leads out of town. Might be you’ll

find a new adventure, just right for a young

man like yourself. Might be you vanish as

you should have, long ago. Whatever your

fate might be, it’s time that you met it.

WES: You don’t frighten me.

SILAS: I don’t need to.

WES: I won’t. Let you. Harm them.

THE CROWS DIVE TO THE EARTH AND

LAND AROUND WES. THEY CAW WITH

AUTHORITY. THE DOGS GROWL

UNEASILY.

SILAS: Hmph. I see I’m not the only one here with

attendants. (TO THE SKY) This one? Truly?

Everything you know I am and this is the

pebble you’d place in my shoe. (TO WES) I’ll

deliver no more warnings to you. Leave Mt.

Absalom. There’s nothing left for you here

but to suffer. Moloch. Abaddon. Come.

THE CROWS CONTINUE CAWING. ONE BY

ONE, THEY VANISH.